Tourism has been touted as a crucial means to empower poor communities. But sadly most disadvantaged communities trying to make a living out of the industry still do not receive their fair share of tourism revenue.
Jennifer Seif, national coordinator of Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa (FTTSA), is committed to changing these unfair practices through the Fair Trade in Tourism Trademark.
The trademark is an initiative where businesses are accredited if they comply with strict criteria related to social responsibility in their day-to-day business. ‘If tourism is not fair, it is not sustainable,” says Seif.
The initiative is a first for South Africa and Seif had to do massive pioneering work to launch the trademark.
When she started out about two years ago, she only had a volunteer to help her. They had to start the concept from scratch as it was a totally novel idea and had never been attempted anywhere in the world before.
Seif oversaw South Africa’s pilot project to test the relevance of FTTSA. The project was successful and has now graduated to a full-scale programme that aims to become a mainstream concept that will help tourists in their holiday-making decisions.
Though the trademark is a world first for tourism, FTTSA gets its inspiration from the global Fair Trade Movement that has been driving fair practices in businesses since the 1960s.
The Fair Trade Movement issues products such as coffee with the Fairtrade label, indicating the product complies to strict social responsibility measures. It has created awareness, especially among European consumers, of fair trade products.
‘The Fairtrade label has become very well known and credible in Europe where consumers from Switzerland and Germany would rather buy a product with the Fairtrade label to support socially responsible practices,” says Seif.
‘We wanted to extend that social awareness to tourism in South Africa, but found it had never been done before. We phoned experienced NGOs to ask advice and they told us, ‘Well, we don’t know.’ But they were eager for us to develop the concept.”
Seif knew the label had to address certain global social issues, but it also had to deal with unique South African problems. ‘It had to be relevant to transformation, a big issue in our country,” she says. ‘Thus we looked at criteria such as empowering local communities, paying good wages, buying stock from community businesses, striking up partnerships with black businesses and employing people from local communities.”
Four businesses have succeeded in earning the Fair Trade in Tourism Trademark. ‘But assessments are currently being done, and we hope to add more establishments in the near future,” says Seif.
Two of the businesses, Sabi Sabi game reserve and Spier Estate in Stellenbosch, are mainstream establishments that have implemented excellent policies to empower local communities. The other two, Stormsriver Adventures and Shiluvari Lodge, are smaller establishments that want to build a good name in tourism.
Seif says it helps the credibility of the two smaller businesses to be associated with names such as Spier, while the two big establishments also benefit with the association of small community initiatives.
Though FTTSA will add more establishments in future, only a handful of special businesses will be accredited with the trademark, says Seif. ‘We want to ensure the trademark is mainstream, but remains special.”
One establishment has been turned down so far. ‘But they have already indicated that they are eager to implement our feedback and try again when they are ready,” says Seif.
Only five people are employed by FTTSA. ‘But as funding increases we hope to bring more people aboard,” says Seif. ‘Currently we only have overseas donors such as the Department for International Development.”
Seif says the goal for next year is to approach local donors such as Lotto. ‘It is not good for us to have our income from only overseas. With the strong rand, our funds were dilapidated and now we are under more pressure.”
To attract South African donors, Seif says FTTSA will have to raise awareness about the trademark and show real benefits to those that join.
She says companies need not only support the initiative through funds. ‘Big corporations can support our businesses by holding conferences or team-building exercises at the venues. Thus they are showing their trust in the business.”
To generate income, establishments connected with the FTTSA label are also paying a small fee for the privilege.
SA Tourism has supported FTTSA tremendously, Seif says. ‘We have an excellent relationship with SA Tourism and its CEO, Cheryl Carolus, has supported us quite a number of times. We have a good network with its overseas offices, which is critical for us.”
Seif says SA Tourism also benefits from the relationship because it strengthens South Africa’s value as an international destination. ‘It attracts socially responsible tourists who want to support a country with the right idea.”
‘The key is to make Fair Trade in Tourism as recognisable as possible,” says Seif. ‘The trademark may not be the first thing that attracts a tourist to a destination, but if he or she is faced with a choice between same priced businesses, they might just choose the Fair Trade in Tourism business above the other.”